On the morning of September 9th, New Yorkers will experience a new way to shop for wireless devices when Nokia opens its second US Flagship Store in New York's exclusive Fifth Avenue shopping district at 5 East 57th Street. Featuring the widest selection of Nokia devices available, Nokia Flagship Stores feature an interactive, high-energy retail environment dedicated to educating customers and pairing them with the perfect wireless device. The New York location is Nokia's fifth global Flagship Store, following successful launches in Moscow, Chicago, Hong Kong and Helsinki.

Nokia Flagship Store in Chicago

The New York Nokia Flagship Store invites guests to explore its three levels of retail space, each level dedicated to a different consumer experience. Immediately upon entering the store's first level, shoppers will find the entire Nokia product lineup. Each product is prominently displayed on a backdrop of multimedia displays and color-shifting walls, yet the myriad of printed point-of-purchase materials so commonly found in most wireless retail stores are noticeably absent. Instead, when a customer picks up a device, the multimedia screen behind that product changes from being part of a continuous band of full-motion graphics to interactive information with a listing of the features and benefits of that device.

On the second level of the store, guests will enter the Nseries Lounge, where they can experience first-hand the power of Nokia's most advanced wireless devices. In this area, photo printers, stereo speakers, laptop computers and more are paired with Nokia's advanced Nseries devices, allowing visitors to print high-quality images from devices like the 3.2 megapixel Nokia N93, use high-fidelity speakers to listen to digital music tracks on devices such as the 4GB hard-drive equipped Nokia N91, and learn how to synchronize music, contacts and more with the high-performance Nokia N80.

The third level of the Nokia Flagship Store houses Nokia's prestigious, luxury line of handsets created by Vertu. Individually hand-crafted using precious materials and luxury processes often found in watchmaking, only the finest and most precious materials go into a Vertu handset, including: diamonds, sapphire crystal, fine leather, polished ceramic, ruby bearings and luxurious housings of gold, stainless steel, and other fine metals. Each Vertu device also features a unique concierge key, allowing owners to be connected with one touch to a personal service professional. Vertu also ensures exclusivity with its regular, limited editions and numbered handsets.

"Fifth Avenue is not only the premier shopping area in New York; it is the premier shopping address in the entire United States. A Fifth Avenue address is synonymous with the best merchandise, superior service and an elegant shopping experience, which is exactly what we are delivering in our New York Nokia Flagship Store location," said Cliff Crosbie, director of global retail and trade marketing for Nokia. "Our highly trained and dedicated staff navigates visitors through the wide variety of Nokia wireless devices, learn about their wants and needs, and deliver to them a product that has been tailored specifically for them. It is this kind of customized service that makes the Nokia Flagship Store more of a boutique than a conventional electronics store - delivering the kind of retail experience expected from the upscale stores found on New York City's Fifth Avenue."

While this newest Flagship Store is Nokia's most recent high-visibility project in the New York City metropolitan area, it is not the first. Starting this summer, Nokia is sponsoring free Wi-Fi network access and offering free applications for New Yorkers together with local media partners in a growing number of New York City parks in all five boroughs. In 2005, Nokia Theatre opened in Times Square, bringing top-name music and other live entertainment acts into a 2,100 seat venue in the heart of Manhattan. Nokia opened its first corporate office outside of Finland in suburban White Plains in 2004, which today is the global home of Nokia's CFO office and Enterprise Solutions business, along with other vital support functions. Additionally, Nokia Experience Center locations in Queens, Nassau County and in nearby Paramus, NJ offer the New York metropolitan area additional opportunities to learn and explore the possibilities offered by Nokia products.